Jun 30, 2014

In post-apocalyptic North America, rape and sexual slavery are legal. Lila Velez, desperately wants to lose her virginity before the troops visit her town and can take it away by force. She makes plans to seduce her only friend, Rey, the most attractive man in her town. Lila does not love him but he is the only man who has shown her true affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute of love.

Lila’s coping mechanism to her mother’s rape and kidnapping is her secret. A secret that will bring her closer to Aleksey, a foreign, broody man. Lila does not trust him because his links to the troops and his rough, yet irresistible appearance. Aleksey offers Lila an alternative to her plans, a possibility that terrifies her…and tempts her in spite of herself.

All the while Lila will have to find a way to live in the constant company of death, slavery, starvation, sexual abuse and the danger of losing the people she loves the most.

This book is recommended for readers over the age of 18 due to strong language and sexual content.

Jun 29, 2014

GET YOUR COPY TODAY FOR $2.99!

War has come to the United States. It’s been brewing for years as the government and Military Police wage war on the outcasts known as the Bionics. It’s spilling out into the streets as the militant Rejects continue to wage war against the ‘inferior’ humans, the M.P.s are raiding neighborhoods and putting Bionics to death, and I am fighting alongside the Resistance to save our kind from extinction. To top it all off, the president has now declared martial law, and the rights of American citizens are being stripped away one by one.

Together, with the vigilante known as The Patriot, and my Resistance family, I am prepared to fight the impossible fight, to stand up for what’s right. From a single spark, our little rebellion has grown into a revolution, a roaring fire that will envelop the nation. At the same time, things in my personal life are finally turning around. I’m in love with a beautiful girl who loves me back, and we might have a shot at a real future … unless the enemy manages to snatch away from me everything that I hold dear.

THE BIONICS SERIES by Alicia Michaels

Nuclear war and the wasteful nature of humans have all but destroyed the United States. A new government regime rules the day with strict laws, rationed food, and careful control. When those injured in the nuclear blasts that rocked many of the nations largest cities are offered another chance by the Restoration Project, how could they refuse?

Little do they know that the robotic additions to their body will paint targets on their backs once the government decides that they are dangerous. At the forefront of the resistance is a girl with a bionic eye, Blythe Sol, who wants nothing more than to be a normal girl. Blythe has yet to realize that normal will never exist again for her, or anyone else.

The Revolution has begun...

The Bionics (Book 1)

FREE

(New Adult or YA Mature)

Most nineteen year-old girls are thinking about college, stretching the wings of newfound adulthood, and boys. Well, I’ll probably never go to college and all my dreams of the future are gone. I’ve been an adult for much longer than I should have been and my girlhood was stolen the minute the North Koreans dropped their nukes over the United States. As for boys … well, that’s pretty much out of the question now, too. My love life is too messy to even talk about.

I have nothing.

Except, maybe, my cause, my mission, The Resistance. It is the hope I have to cling to, I am counting on it to pave the way to my future. As things heat up and the terrorist sect known as The Rejects make themselves known opponents of society in this war, the choice to be on the side of good is harder than ever. My friends are broken; Olivia is a shell of her former self and Jenica is barely hanging on. Dax and Gage … well, we’re not talking about my love life, remember?

The Rejects, the government, President Drummond; they are pressing in on us from all sides and the weight is tremendous. Still, when given the choice to crumble or stand, I’d rather stand. Times are dark, but we are here, a rebellion, a whisper in the dark, a spark that lights the flames of change.

Titanium (Book 2)

(New Adult or YA Mature)

Secrets (Book 3)

(New Adult or YA Mature)

NEW RELEASE:

SPARK (Book 4) (New Adult or YA Mature)

About Alicia Michaels:

Ever since she first read books like Chronicles of Narnia or Goosebumps, Alicia has been a lover of mind-bending fiction. Wherever imagination takes her, she is more than happy to call that place her home. The mother of two and wife to an Army sergeant loves chocolate, coffee, and of course good books. When not writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, shopping for shoes and fabulous jewelry, or spending time with her loving family.

Jun 28, 2014

The Eye of Tanub is a very unique book. The story is about two siblings, Zach and Lauren. One day, while they are fighting over a mysterious necklace, they get transported into one of Zach's role playing video games. Their journey to Terratir, from the moment they land there till the very end is full of adventure. In order to get back home, they have to team up with some of the characters of the game and find the Eye of Tanub, while trying to stay alive from the attacks of the Warlord's army.

The premise of this book had me picking it up the day it got released. I love video games, especially role playing ones, I had my days (and nights) of being a gamer and Terratir missed nothing of a good fantasy world. The weird creatures, the different races, the magestic towns, the myths and history and the varying terrains, made a good set for the adventurous of our main characters, and trust me this book has a lot of action packed moments, that make it a very fast read.

So, what went wrong with this read? For me the main flaw of this book were its characters. I never got to relate to any of them, even Zach who was my favourite one. We never get to learn that much about them. We get to hear their stories and parts of their pasts, but still I felt like I never got to know their essence. Their behaviour seemed kind of off, I never knew if what they did was out of character or not, because I never witnessed part of their character. They only two people who were a constant on the book were Zach and his sister Lauren. Zach, I didn't mind so much, he was a curious 14-year-old boy who had just traveled inside his video game. He was excited and frightened and kind of silly, like a normal 14-year-old boy. But his sister...OH MY GOD. She was annoying as hell. In the beginning I thought she had started out as a spoiled bart only to redeem herself by the end of the book, but she didn't, even though in her own mind she wasn't a jerk anymore. I didn't see that change at all. Throughout the whole book she was immature and acted like a brat. And what bothered me the most was that she thought she wasn't and that her little brother was the immature one. And don't get me started on her love interest... Why was there even a love interest? This book would have been so much better without it.

Overall, this was a fun adventure book that at times made me want to slap my kindle screen but had its redeaming fighting scenes, just not enough to make me give it a bigger rating. I believe it's a good recommendation for people that love role playing games and are probably teenagers.

Jun 27, 2014

A Murder of Magpies by Sarah Bromley

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

A MURDER OF MAGPIES cover art

Besides the dream of seeing your book in print, one thing so many authors daydream about is what the cover will look like. I come from an artistic background. My grandmother was a watercolorist, and I actually spent time in college as an art major before switching first to forensic pathology (don’t ask—it obviously didn’t last) and eventually English. As someone who’s visual, I was excited and, to be honest, nervous for what Month9Books would come up with as the design for the cover of A MURDER OF MAGPIES.

Georgia McBride asked for my input, which I know is rare because so often authors don’t get much say, if any, in their cover art, but I still didn’t know what to expect. Yet when I saw it, I adored my cover. How could there be any other cover for A MURDER OF MAGPIES? The design brings in details like the cobblestone roads of the book’s setting, Black Orchard, Wisconsin. I could imagine walking down that road in the fog and knowing someone was watching. The antique-style light plays off Vayda’s family’s business in the antiques trade as well as her ability to take emotion and turn it into electricity. Then the bird . . . I love the bird’s position as it is hunched over to peck at the ground as if uncovering a secret, and this is a story where everyone has secrets.

Winter in Black Orchard, Wisconsin, is long and dark, and sixteen-year-old Vayda Silver prays the snow will keep the truth and secrecy of the last two years buried. Hiding from the past with her father and twin brother, Vayda knows the rules: never return to the town of her mother’s murder, and never work a Mind Game where someone might see.

No one can know the toll emotions take on Vayda, how emotion becomes energy in her hands, or how she can’t control the destruction she causes. But it's not long before her powers can no longer be contained. The truth is dangerously close to being exposed, placing Vayda and her family at risk.

Until someone quiets the chaos inside her.

Unwanted. That's all Ward Ravenscroft has ever been. To cope, he numbs the pain of rejection by denying himself emotions of any kind. Yet Vayda stirs something in him. He can't explain the hold she has on him--inspiring him with both hope and fear. He claims not to scare easily, except he doesn't know what her powers can do. Yet.

Just as Vadya and Ward draw closer, she finds the past isn't so easily buried. And when it follows the Silvers to Black Orchard, it has murder in mind.

Sarah Bromley lives near St. Louis with her husband, three children, and two dogs. She likes the quiet hours of morning when she can drink coffee in peace, stare into the woods behind her house, and wonder what monsters live there. When she's not writing or wrangling small children, she can be found volunteering at a stable for disabled riders.

Let me begin this review by saying that the love I have for this book is endless. Impostor hit the trifecta for me: a suspenseful mystery, a beautiful love story and a kick-ass heroine. What's not to love?

So, this is the story of Tessa. Tessa is a Variant and like others of her kind she has special powers and lives and works in the FEA, a kind of FBI agency but with Variants. When a serrial killer hits a small town in Oregon, Tessa is sent there to take the place of his latest victim, pretending the girl never died but instead lost part of her memory.

This book was a surprise. I picked it up with no expectations at all, even though it was pitched as Veronica Mars meets the X-Men. Many books have an awesome tagline just to turn out to be a disappointment, but not Impostor. Unraveling this well-woven mystery was a delight. It makes me wish I could erase this book from my memory just to experience it anew. I loved how everyone was a suspect and had a motive. I kept guessing until the very end, making my own theories about each character.

Another thing I loved about this book is the love story. I hate it when a mystery is all about the love story and we never get to see much serial killer action. That wasn't the case here. If there is one thing FEA knows how to do is its job, and the agents' main goal is to find the killer. Yes, there were sweet and frustrating moments between Tess and her boy but none of them overshadowed the main plotline, which was the mystery.

Finally, my ultimate instalove in this book was Tess. She is an amazing MC. I was immediately drawn to her. The things she's been through and the person she had to become made me love her and root for her happily ever after. She was kick-ass in her own way, curious, smart, caring and most of all flawed. Another thing I loved about her is that thoughout the book she learns how to love and accept herself the way she is and starts making hard decisions for her own good.

All in all, if you haven't read this book, what are you waiting for? It's perfect for mystery fans or any kind of paranormal fans for that fact, also has the whole FBI/secret agency conspiracy theme that I always love in movies. I seriously can't recommend this book enough. I believe so far this year, this is my top 1 book. I can't believe I am lucky enough to have read it just as the sequel came out. Talk about good timing...

Jun 25, 2014

TIME SPELL and COVER SPELL will be re-released (with NEW bonus content) on Wednesday, July 9th.

The 3rd book in the series, FIRE SPELL will be released on Thursday, July 24th.

TIME SPELL BOOK BLURB: Ivy, a witch who spends her days practicing her brand of good magic in a sleepy little city, often travels in time to observe events of the past and turn them into compelling stories for her modern day fans. As her uncanny ability to weave enthralling tales lands her in the limelight as America’s new sweetheart author, she quickly learns that fame sometimes comes with a price. When evil forces discover who she is and threaten to reveal her family’s most sacred magical secrets, Ivy unravels history in glitzy 1968 Las Vegas while fighting to keep the evil forces in the present at bay. With the help of her ruggedly handsome editor and a sexy supernatural ex-boyfriend, Ivy faces the most heart-wrenching sacrifice of her life.

COVER SPELL BOOK BLURB: Trying her best to mend a broken heart, Ivy Grace travels to hot and sultry New Orleans, the set of her latest novel turned movie. There, she does her best to focus on polishing the screenplay when the film’s lead actress goes missing. A budding romance with the movie’s heartthrob and the reappearance of an old flame, test Ivy’s strength, resolve, and heart as she works to solve the mysterious kidnapping. Her time travels land her in 1945 New Orleans at the close of World War II and in the middle of a tortured love story. The undercover witch, who craves a regular life, learns she will need more than her Time Spell to fight the evil plaguing New Orleans. New spells, new adventure, and new love take Ivy on a whirlwind journey of magic that unlocks more questions than answers.

AUTHOR BIOT.A. Foster is a Southern girl whose heart and spirit are connected to the beach. She grew up catching rays and chasing waves along the North Carolina Outer Banks and now resides in the state with her adventurous pilot husband, two children and two canine kiddos.

Her long love affair with books started at an early age and as soon as she was able, she transformed imaginative stories into words on paper. T.A. has an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a graduate degree in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University. When she’s not chasing her two-legged and four-legged children or trying to escape for date night, you can find her reading, writing or planning her next beach trip.

We are so pleased to finally share this gorgeous and much awaited cover for Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin.

Queen of Someday (Stolen Empire Book 1)

Before she can become the greatest empress in history, fifteen-year-old Sophia will have to survive her social-climbing mother’s quest to put her on the throne of Russia—at any cost.

Imperial Court holds dangers like nothing Sophie has ever faced before. In the heart of St. Petersburg, surviving means navigating the political, romantic, and religious demands of the bitter Empress Elizabeth and her handsome, but sadistic nephew, Peter. Determined to save her impoverished family—and herself—Sophie vows to do whatever is necessary to thrive in her new surroundings. But an attempt on her life and an unexpected attraction threatens to derail her plans.
Alone in a new and dangerous world, learning who to trust and who to charm may mean the difference between becoming queen and being sent home in shame to marry her lecherous uncle. With traitors and murderers lurking around every corner, her very life hangs in the balance. Betrothed to one man but falling in love with another, Sophie will need to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to become the empress she is destined to be.
In a battle for the soul of a nation, will love or destiny reign supreme?

Sherry D. Ficklin

Sherry D. Ficklin is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new people. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she’s on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs.

She is the author of The Gods of Fate Trilogy now available from Dragonfly Publishing. Her previously self-published novel After Burn: Military Brats has been acquired by Harlequin and will be released in 2014 with a second book in that series to follow. Her YA steampunk novel, EXTRACTED: The Lost Imperials book 1, co-written with Tyler H. Jolley is now available everywhere books are sold and her newest YA novel, Losing Logan, is now available from Clean Teen Publishing.

A Note From The Author:

The true story of Catherine the Great is one fraught with betrayal, intrigue, and romance. While a good deal of my story is drawn from actual people and events, I have been very liberal in the rearrangement of dates, events, and places. Whenever possible I took my cues from her own words, intermixing my own thoughts and ideas. My thought upon the creation of the book was simple. I looked at the woman she was when she claimed the crown and then wondered, how did an innocent girl from Germany become such a force of nature? Most people aren’t born cold or ambitious, but have circumstances that forge them into those people. And that was the story I wanted to tell in this book. I wanted to see the events in her early life that would have changed her into the person she became, and not knowing the truth of that story, I simply made something up. That is what we, as writers, do best.

If you are curious about the real history behind Catherine, I suggest heading to your local library and doing a bit of research. This is not meant to be a historically accurate representation, but a flight of fancy, one that I hope you, dear reader, will enjoy as much as I have.

Another Note From The Author:

I am holding a special Queen of Someday cover reveal Spreecast live chat on Tuesday June 24th at 6pm est (4 mountain, 5 central). I will be talking about the new book, answering questions, and giving listeners a sneak peek of the novel. I will also be doing a giveaway for a Queen of Someday swag pack.You can join me using this link:http://www.spreecast.com/events/chat-with-sherry-d-ficklin-ya-author

There is an area for text questions, or, for those folks who aren't camera shy, you can also ask questions on camera by choosing the join via video option under the main video frame (you will have to enable your camera for this option).

With A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making.

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Burning Sky (Sora Gate, #1)
Now available on Wattpad
New chapters added every Tuesday.